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ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)

The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) is the principal forum for security dialogue in Asia. It draws together 27 countries which have a bearing on the security of the Asia Pacific region.

Background to the ASEAN Regional Forum

The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) was established in 1994. It comprises 27 countries  the 10 ASEAN member states (Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam)  the 10 ASEAN dialogue partners (Australia, Canada, China, the EU, India, Japan, New Zealand, ROK, Russia and the United States), one ASEAN observer (PNG)  as well as the DPRK, Mongolia, Pakistan, East Timor, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

The ARF is the principal forum for security dialogue in Asia, complementing the various bilateral alliances and dialogues. It provides a setting in which members can discuss current regional security issues and develop cooperative measures to enhance peace and security in the region.

Development of the ASEAN Regional Forum

The ARF is characterised by consensus decision making and minimal institutionalisation. The 1995 ARF Concept Paper set out a three-stage, evolutionary approach to the ARF's development, moving from confidence-building to preventive diplomacy and, in the long term, towards a conflict resolution capability.

In its first fifteen years, the ARF has focused on confidence building measures and has made modest gains in building a sense of strategic community. But efforts to develop tools of preventive diplomacy and conflict management are still at an early stage.

At the ARF Ministerial Meeting in July 2009, a Vision Statement was endorsed providing a roadmap to guide the direction of the ARF to 2020.  The Statement includes an undertaking to develop an ARF preventive diplomacy capacity.  In order to achieve this, ARF Ministers agreed that a Work Plan for Preventive Diplomacy be developed in the 2009-10 ARF cycle.

Australia's Involvement in the ARF

Australia was a founding member of the ARF and has been an energetic participant in the Forum's discussions and activities. Australia has been supportive of efforts for the ARF to develop preventive diplomacy tools, including the development of an ARF Work Plan for Preventive Diplomacy.

Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, Australia has been at the forefront of efforts to ensure the ARF makes a practical contribution to regional anti-terrorism efforts.

Australia has also encouraged ARF to address proliferation threats and to deliver clear messages to the DPRK regarding its nuclear and missile programs.

A recent additional focus of ARF activity has been regional capacities to respond to disasters.  Australia is a member of the ARF “Shepherds’ Group” created to take forward work on disaster relief capabilities. Australia and Indonesia co hosted a Disaster Relief desktop exercise (simulation) in Indonesia in May 2008.  Following this, the United States and the Philippines co hosted a field exercise on Disaster Relief in May 2009 in the Philippines, the first live field exercise under the auspices of the ARF.  Australia participated in this exercise and is supportive of further such practical ARF disaster relief activity.

ARF meetings and processes

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has responsibility for ARF policy, in consultation with the Department of Defence. ARF meetings are held at Foreign Minister level, annually in July/August in conjunction with the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference (PMC). The chair of ASEAN, which rotates on annual basis, is also the chair of the ARF.  The principal formal ARF document is the ARF chair's statement issued after every ARF Ministerial meeting.

The ARF is supported by the ARF Senior Officials' Meeting which meets annually in May or June. Two ARF Intersessional Support Group (ISG) meetings on Confidence Building Measures and Preventive Diplomacy are also held at officials' level each year, co-chaired by one ASEAN and one non-ASEAN member. Recommendations and outcomes of these ISG meetings feed into the ARF Senior Officials Meeting. The ARF conducts four Inter-Sessional Meetings (ISM) annually that represent focus areas of the forum.  These are ISMs on Counter-Terrorism and Transnational Crime, Disaster Relief, Maritime Security, and Non-Proliferation and Disarmament.  

Second-track (non-official) institutions, such as the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP) and the ASEAN Institutes of Strategic and International Studies (ASEAN ISIS), have been instrumental in generating ideas and inputs for ARF ("first track") consideration. The second-track institutions and networks conduct a number of seminars and working groups on regional security issues, involving academics, security specialists and officials participating in a personal capacity. Through its discretionary grants program, the Department supports the activities of AUS-CSCAP (the Australian Member Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific).

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